


Sundae Trip

by Eggling



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Gen, just fluff and ice cream really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-20
Updated: 2019-09-20
Packaged: 2020-10-24 09:50:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20704001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eggling/pseuds/Eggling
Summary: Ben and Jamie visit an ice cream cafe on an alien planet and talk about travelling with the Doctor.





	Sundae Trip

**Author's Note:**

> on [tumblr](https://the--highlanders.tumblr.com/post/187835337136/sundae-trip).

“Hey, when did the Doctor say he’d be back?”

Jamie snorted. “He didn’t.”

“Typical.” Ben shook his head. “He’ll be in there for hours. They hadn’t finished the observatory last time we visited, and he was dying to have a look inside.”

“I still cannae believe he managed tae land somewhere twice,” Jamie said, grinning. “The next place we go is gonnae be awful, tae balance it out. Just ye wait.”

“I hope not,” Ben said darkly.

“Tell me he wouldn’t.”

“Oh, he would.” Ben shook his head wearily. “Might as well make the most of looking around here, then. There’s a little cafe somewhere down that way...”

He paused to study the crumpled map in his hands, frowning down at it and tracing along the streets with one finger. Leaving him to puzzle it out, Jamie headed off down the street, watching the people curiously. After travelling with the Doctor for a few weeks, he had thought that he was used to aliens of all shapes and sizes, but the array of creatures in this city was nothing like he had ever seen. Some of them looked human, and if he fixed his eyes on the right cluster of people he could almost pretend that he was on Earth, albeit long after his own time – but then a tall, gangly, pearly-skinned alien passed in front of him, its eye-stalks bobbing with every step it took, and the illusion was broken.

Realising he should not have wandered so far from Ben, he turned and bumped into a grizzled, armoured creature with the head of a rhinoceros. It barked out a long string of noises that could have meant anything from a curse to a challenge, and he backed away, staring up at them nervously. To his relief, Ben was already hurrying over, waving his hands to get the creature’s attention and making a few similar sounds.

“He didn’t mean it,” he said to the creature, hastily pulling Jamie away. “Come on, mate, I think I know what way we’re going.”

Jamie rubbed at his arm ruefully as they went. The creature’s armour had been harder than its plastic shine would suggest, and he was sure it would leave a bruise. “What was that?”

“A Judoon,” Ben said, grimacing. “They’re not too bad, really, just a bit temperamental.”

“Are there many of them here?” Craning his neck, Jamie tried to pick out more horned faces amongst the crowd, but to no avail.

“Dunno.” Ben shrugged. “The Doctor would know, I bet. Here we are!”

He shouldered open the door of a brightly painted building, and Jamie followed him inside cautiously. The room inside seemed just as crammed with people as the streets outside, with almost every table and booth crammed with aliens of all shapes and sizes. Some were squashed into chairs or coiled on stools, but others simply hovered above the ground, or were small enough that they sat on the tables themselves. Jamie stared in amazement at what appeared to be a large snake, watching it slurp down levitating balls of chocolate.

“It’s...” He turned in a slow circle, struggling to take it all in. The crimson walls made the room seem smaller and darker than it really was, and a hazy steam blurred the far corners, giving the scene an oddly dreamlike quality. “It’s a wee bit mad.”

“It is that.” Ben barely gave the other customers a second glance, instead making a beeline for the counter. “They’ve got a hundred and fifteen different types of ice cream here,” he said, grinning from ear to ear. “I’m going to try the Saturnian melon flavour.”

Jamie eyed the tub Ben was pointing to warily. “What’s so special about it?”

“The Doctor said it shoots fireworks.”

“Och, don’t ye go makin’ fun of me, Benjamin Jackson. I’m no’ that stupid.”

“I’m serious!” One of the staff handed Ben a card with a number printed on it, and he glanced at it, then hurried off towards an empty table. “Here we are. We might have to wait a while for them to get to us. The Doctor said it was the most popular cafe in the city.”

“Mm.” Sitting down opposite Ben, Jamie swung his legs back and forth beneath the table. His chair shifted beneath him, reforming itself into a more comfortable shape, and he frowned down at it for a moment before shrugging and turning his attention back to Ben. “Shame he’ll miss out.”

“Yeah. Still, he and Polly are probably enjoying themselves at the observatory.”

They fell silent, Ben turning to study the menu, Jamie to study the cafe’s other occupants, wondering which of them looked the strangest. A few could almost have been human, but some did not even seem to be solid, slipping from form to form as they ate. To his surprise, he recognised a handful of species. A table across the room from theirs was crowded with five Judoon, their armour draped over the backs of their chairs, sipping drinks that arced with electricity. Some others he was sure he had met on other planets, though he did not know their names.

His gaze settled on a bundle of children, watched over carefully by an alien that seemed little more than a great mound of fur, bristling with at least twenty eyes. One of the children was entertaining the others by changing their skin colour to match each of the ice cream scoops, sending them all into fits of laughter. The scene seemed so oddly familiar, half a universe away from his home, and Jamie found himself captivated by it.

“Funny, isn’t it?” When he glanced over his shoulder, he saw that Ben was also watching the children. “How much it can seem like Earth.” He gave a rueful smile. “Shame the Doctor didn’t land us back in our own time.”

Jamie frowned at him. “Are ye so keen tae go back?”

Ben paused at that, thinking it over for a long moment. “Probably not,” he said at last. “I thought I was, when I first joined the Doctor, but – things are different now, aren’t they? We’ve settled in. Got used to all this.” Jamie murmured in absent agreement. “I’d like to visit, at least. But even he doesn’t know if he’ll land somewhere twice. We might end up years before or after we left.”

“Or never get back at all,” Jamie put in.

“Exactly.” Ben stretched, folding his arms behind his head. “What about you, mate? Are you wanting to go home yet?”

“Och, no. Even if the Doctor did land back in my time -” Jamie gestured around them. “It’s no’ really a choice, is it? Him, an’ the universe, or...” He shrugged. “At least ye have somethin’ tae go back to.”

“’Spose so. It’s not like I don’t miss home, but… I think I’d miss all this, too.”

“Ye seem at home here,” Jamie said. “Like you’re comfortable, out in space, with all this. Ye know what you’re doin’.”

Ben laughed. “I don’t always feel like it.”

“Ye knew how tae talk to that Judoon.”

“I didn’t, actually,” Ben admitted. “I just made a few noises. For all I know, I might have insulted it.”

They stared at each other for a long moment, then descended into laughter, struggling to quieten themselves when a few customers shot them disapproving looks. “Lucky we didnae stick around tae find out what ye said,” Jamie choked out.

“Maybe it’ll come in here looking for us,” Ben suggested. “I might even have started an intergalactic war.”

He kept laughing, but Jamie’s mirth trailed away. “I… I dinnae want ye tae go.” Ben fell quiet, looking up at him in confusion. “Ye an’ Polly. I’d miss ye.” Even as he spoke, he was surprised by how painful it was to think of Ben and Polly leaving. “It wouldnae be the same, without the four of us. I dinnae know what I’d do if ye weren’t here.”

“You’d have the Doctor,” Ben pointed out. “You two’d look after each other.”

“Aye, but it’s like ye said, isn’t it? We never know where he’s gonnae land. If ye went back home, we might never see each other again.”

“Mm.” Drumming his hands on the table, Ben stared out at the aliens surrounding them. “We’d miss you too. And the Doctor.” He frowned. “I hadn’t thought that we might not see each other again. It doesn’t feel right, does it?”

“No’ really.” Jamie stared down at the table for a moment, then pushed gently at Ben’s clenched fists to distract him. “Still, ye dinnae know that he’ll ever get ye home. Maybe ye won’t ever have tae choose.”

“Maybe not.” Ben’s voice was falsely cheerful, as if he shared the worry that still sat in the pit of Jamie’s stomach. “We don’t have to worry about that just yet.” He gave a more genuine smile. “Listen to us worrying. We’re meant to be here to eat ice cream.”

“Aye.” Jamie grinned back, picking up his menu and trying to drag himself back into focusing on it. “Which one did ye say made the fireworks?”


End file.
